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2023-04-15 - 7:15 a.m. OK Less worried that my kid is not prepared for the overseas job. sibling said the soon to be college grad did do research and found and affordable housing option and has a plan (hostel like) I also read Some Asian counties DO typically include housing in the actual benefit package for teachers. It turns out we actually have some very close persons in the circle of family who have friends and family in that host county. WHEW That makes me far less worried. Super excited for this kid/young adult. Also supe proud of the other young teacher in the family! My older kid who graduated just LAST year has almost made it through her first year as a teacher. I have not talked of her here as it is her story But just will say this:
If you followed the news in Education across the county very fact of that will mean something
in Virginia. I mean the science wars in education happened years ago. ( Oh but they will be back...) That was a battle won years ago and science won. YET there are families with kids in the classroom who come in and when teaching of clouds one little kid pronounced "God can do anything" and when teaching the science of clouds the kids of course wanted to say how they see things in clouds I mean who wants to be the adult that tells kids NOT TO SEE THINGS IN CLOUDS? I think my child teacher ROCKED it in how she taught actual science but also RESEPCTED the religious tradition and teaching from the families that the kids brought into their classroom with genuine childlike faith. She was not going to burst their bubble of faith so taught the science of cloud formation but allowed space for the children to also self express what their parents taught them. FAITH AND SCIENCE CAN CO EXIST It is not indoctrination in a public school when you let kids express who they are in the moment as parts of families who are religious. As long as you as a teacher let ALL kids share who they are. A GOOD TEACHER Won't squelch any of these kids as their identities are shaped by family. I mean really YET the battle of teaching science in schools in this state seems to have been won only by polarizing and removing all reference to religion, and apparently that is still status quo apparently, based on stories I heard from her classroom teaching experience. She got in trouble from admin from letting kids express their beliefs! It was not in fact taking away from them learning actual science. They can bring the science home and have the conversations with parents- She was teaching solidly. BUT she let little kids BE.. AS THEY ARE in the moment and allowed space for EXPRESSION. AND she got in trouble for it! It was wild. Reminded me of how when I visited schools for my kids one I visited got a HELL NO when I watched a teacher CORRECT a little kid who sang the traditions "This old man went up to heaven" I mean the teachers are TRAINED to CORRECT and not let kids sing that in some schools! This is still a problem. But not telling her story other than I GET IT Why folks homeschool! YET... the homeschool groups were driven by different folks in different states. In MD one leader who pushed for them is an atheist. Here in VA where I live the religious right drove them (Home School Legal Defense fund birthed in my area.) Those same folks pushed the agenda of also changing what is taught about history in recent years! WHAT?? and push the agenda of getting diverse materials for reading removed now from schools. so there is EVIDENCE that the materials they are trying to get out of schools are informed by DAR style censorship. Reality is there is a history of pushing for quality moral materials but then what is removed is defacto disproportionately materials telling cultural stories, or culturally significant historical factual stories that are Black or Jewish. I mean no one is censoring the BIBLE yet there is as much violence and shocking depiction of ugly in that as there was in the Diary of Anne Frank. Talk about wars and genocide... just read the Old Testament people if you want raw and ugly.
Yet I think this improved... a little. However only when there was an influx of immigrants, from India and surrounding area actually, who came here and wanted to celebrate Dwali in their lives, in their work, in the schools out in the eastern part of the state where they live and work and educate their kids. So those moms and dads live and work and become involved in schools and a shift has happened over the last 20 yrs. I estimate 10 years ago there was a welcome change where school kids started celebration Christmas again in schools! SO in this area, there has been a backlash against the sterile culture FINALLY The folks coming to re-design our operations systems. *It is not a lie that India (and both U.S. and London schools many of the upper class Indian's go to study) in the recent years have been producing capable INDIAN talent in tech, not a mirage or falsehood we kinda actually NEED Their talent. Not untrue there is a crisis of not ENOUGH U.S. born scientists and mathematicians to fill the jobs and be competitive and not a myth that this country of ours was BUILT on immigration labor and NEEDS it, not just at the manual labor level but at professional level of working with BRAINS and also still needs to remain the place to attract top talent from around the world. So the way I see it- there was a backlash against the sanitizing any culture from inclusion of faith AT ALL in certain spaces. We addressed that well in some places but then the CHRISTIANS who were upset they could not express faith seem to have a faction MOST vocal who are squelching OTHER'S Expression- And the religious right have kicked up their participation in being VESTED in shaping culture for sure.
Schools are still not as integrated in allowing expression of ideas. Plain and simple. They are still trying to figure it out. Workplaces did better. We are back to socially allowing Christmas parties, because the Indian folks brought us the joyful dancing of Diwali in colorful traditional dress with spicy fragrant food. Come on now, the Christian were not going to remain SILTE about their tradition in the fact of exuberant jolly MERRY CHRISTMAS acknowledgements from their Indian co workers I mean you work with some of these marvelous folks and you can't not like and after years develop actual real relationships. That changes people's perspective. I loved my boss at Fannie Mae who reminded me of my mother... she did have close relationships with some of the Indian counterparts but let me tell you , I watched a process of her growth. No kidding... they might have some strong feelings I get it But then the Indian folks BRING BACK the CHRSITMAS PARTY TOO! It was kinda marvelous to watch this in the span of the five years I worked there. This alongside shifts of other diversity in workplaces. And schools
But back to the point: Heck God Bless my kid who made it through the first year of teaching both SCIENCE ( which I am telling you WAS the hot potato for years in VA) AND HISTORY in the year the whole freaking state is just CRAZY (I mean not just VA . We have FL etc.) and folks are fighting to allow actual history to be retained in the curriculum. Its been a crazy year in education. So for a first year teacher, I am extremely proud of my kid. She is soon to finish having made it through. Teaching not for the faint of heart....oh wait... other than yeah Oh yeah Not MS That was a new one for me. I had never heard of it. So yeah, proud this kid has made it through. SO it is perhaps with great irony that she was SO HAPPY I was able to buy a ticket for a FL Vacation! much of the world is talking of how awful FL is. But hey- my family is there, so I am so pleased that I had enough airline points that I actually booked tickets for ALL THE KIDS who live in this state (those with me and the teacher- her flight from her city) to go to FL to visit my family there! YEAH Family Vacation! I just had to pay taxes at first for 4 tix. $44! (OOPS I had to then re-book due to one conflict. But no worry- $180 later all good.) I did that thing where was like "GET IT DONE" and just booked the tix not sure if all could make it. This is a GREAT ADHD TIP GET it done and FIX IT LATER SERIOUSLY or WAIT til get it done right, or perfect to act. I mean if I had not booked the WRONG flights one AM when awoke during the adrenaline wake up rush, I might not today have tickets for all of us that DO work. Having to correct the wrong dates is more motivating after having sent email to all about the initial booking than the THOUGH in head "Oh have to plan the trip".
That was only $90. I mean $30 a night for a site. Can't beat the National Parks and Regional Parks system. So two family vacations planned. I know that time with family has to be prioritized. We end up growing in the spaces we invest our time and attention. � � |
NOW I can sleep This must be what being Neurotic feels like SIGh... - 2023-04-20
%%older_entries%% %%older_entries%%Going route of private pay for medical screenings. - 2023-04-17
%%older_entries%%Teachers expressing individuality is Anti-Establishment - 2023-04-16
%%older_entries%%Thoughts on flowers - 2023-04-15
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